"The day dawns on the carnage incurred south of our border, calling to mind, compelling, the timeless
teaching "Love thy neighbor as thyself”.
I do. I do."
A Canadian speaks...
ARTICLE CATEGORY: The View From Here
Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself
Helga’s Heartlines: A Journal
Wednesday, September 12th, 2001
Toronto, Ontario
The morning after a never-to-be-forgotten date in mankind’s passage: September 11, 2001. Nothing is the same.
America under seige! Canadian Headlines join in a chorus of emotional outburst:
Globe & Mail: A DAY OF INFAMY
National Post: U.S. VOWS REVENGE
Toronto Star: DAY OF TERROR
Toronto Sun: BASTARDS!
I am stunned, heartsick. As the day dawns on the carnage incurred south of our border, so close, it calls to mind, compells the timeless teaching “Love thy neighbor as thyself”. I do. I do. My sympathy and support go out to you, America, my neighbor and friend, my bond only strengthened by our twin break of heart.
Science fiction--Flights of fancy--Star Wars--Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Beyond imagining--Yesterday, this morning—-A changed Manhattan skyline--SUR-REALITY!
Dreams, assumptions, passions, illusions--reduced to rubble. Yet, deeply moved, humanity stirs, survives. Watch a phoenix rise from these ashes! Beware its soul-felt cries! Divided America will come together in this, its hour of greatest need, human beings everywhere awaken to a new dynamic, see past color, nationality, ethnicity, creed, refine freedom to sustain security.
Devastation. Annihilation. What abomination! A mirror of the depth of depravity and unthinkable evil that hides behind a human face. Terrorists, undistinguishable from their benign co-passengers, scorpion-like illuminate - prove - for the whole world to witness – the inherent self-destruction that comes with fruits of hate.
Here at Canada’s economic crossroads amidst our cluster of financial giants – our own towering monoliths – I, feeling vulnerable yet sadly secure, lunch at the foot of the tallest, First Canadian Place. Where the ambient courtyard for the time being outflanks its looming shadow, I sit by myself, cool wind in my hair, warm sun on my face. Across the street Reuters News World View flashes today’s currency exchange rates juxtaposed with the still unbelievable hard-to-comprehend images seared forever more upon psyche and time and space.
I’ll never forget The World Trade Center, my visit there, my trip to the top. “Windows on the World.” I gazed through them once. Aptly named it was--An incredible breathtaking spectacle befell my eyes, of which I’m glad I had opportunity to witness, experience the panarama, the place; ever more in memory etched. Looking down on the Empire State Building, a former architectural achievement made diminutive, inconsequential, by this modern Titanic of occupied airspace. Massive and imposing, dominating the landscape for decades, the mind wants to deny the sudden drastic absence, as if a hole had been punched into acres of atmosphere, leaving an emptiness beyond mere sky.
Yet let us remember it is not the loss of those buildings that matters one whit in the scheme of things, it is the terrible deliberately orchestrated death toll, the diabolical assault upon unsuspecting innocents, the loss of unknown as yet numbers of civilians' lives.
Dear friend, I am so inadequate to give you comfort, but I can give my moral support.
This I believe to be true, my unqualified, profound, unreasoning faith:
They shall not have died in vain.
God Bless America!
~ Helga Marion Ross ~
Copyright 2001
Wednesday, September 12th, 2001
Toronto, Ontario
The morning after a never-to-be-forgotten date in mankind’s passage: September 11, 2001. Nothing is the same.
America under seige! Canadian Headlines join in a chorus of emotional outburst:
Globe & Mail: A DAY OF INFAMY
National Post: U.S. VOWS REVENGE
Toronto Star: DAY OF TERROR
Toronto Sun: BASTARDS!
I am stunned, heartsick. As the day dawns on the carnage incurred south of our border, so close, it calls to mind, compells the timeless teaching “Love thy neighbor as thyself”. I do. I do. My sympathy and support go out to you, America, my neighbor and friend, my bond only strengthened by our twin break of heart.
Science fiction--Flights of fancy--Star Wars--Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Beyond imagining--Yesterday, this morning—-A changed Manhattan skyline--SUR-REALITY!
Dreams, assumptions, passions, illusions--reduced to rubble. Yet, deeply moved, humanity stirs, survives. Watch a phoenix rise from these ashes! Beware its soul-felt cries! Divided America will come together in this, its hour of greatest need, human beings everywhere awaken to a new dynamic, see past color, nationality, ethnicity, creed, refine freedom to sustain security.
Devastation. Annihilation. What abomination! A mirror of the depth of depravity and unthinkable evil that hides behind a human face. Terrorists, undistinguishable from their benign co-passengers, scorpion-like illuminate - prove - for the whole world to witness – the inherent self-destruction that comes with fruits of hate.
Here at Canada’s economic crossroads amidst our cluster of financial giants – our own towering monoliths – I, feeling vulnerable yet sadly secure, lunch at the foot of the tallest, First Canadian Place. Where the ambient courtyard for the time being outflanks its looming shadow, I sit by myself, cool wind in my hair, warm sun on my face. Across the street Reuters News World View flashes today’s currency exchange rates juxtaposed with the still unbelievable hard-to-comprehend images seared forever more upon psyche and time and space.
I’ll never forget The World Trade Center, my visit there, my trip to the top. “Windows on the World.” I gazed through them once. Aptly named it was--An incredible breathtaking spectacle befell my eyes, of which I’m glad I had opportunity to witness, experience the panarama, the place; ever more in memory etched. Looking down on the Empire State Building, a former architectural achievement made diminutive, inconsequential, by this modern Titanic of occupied airspace. Massive and imposing, dominating the landscape for decades, the mind wants to deny the sudden drastic absence, as if a hole had been punched into acres of atmosphere, leaving an emptiness beyond mere sky.
Yet let us remember it is not the loss of those buildings that matters one whit in the scheme of things, it is the terrible deliberately orchestrated death toll, the diabolical assault upon unsuspecting innocents, the loss of unknown as yet numbers of civilians' lives.
Dear friend, I am so inadequate to give you comfort, but I can give my moral support.
This I believe to be true, my unqualified, profound, unreasoning faith:
They shall not have died in vain.
God Bless America!
~ Helga Marion Ross ~
Copyright 2001
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